Lime Buttermilk Bars

Happy Thursday! Wait – you say you aren’t having a happy day? I think I know why. It’s because you don’t have any of these Lime Buttermilk Bars at your house. We can fix that!

You will feel like spring has come to stay when you bite into one of these delightful, citrusy, creamy-on-the-top, crunchy-on-the-bottom bars. Trust me when I tell you this, because I am always truthful when it comes to dessert

I have to tell you a story about the making of these bars. Well, more about the photographing of them really. Taking photos is something I think most food bloggers have a love-hate relationship with. You need good photos or no one will care what you are making until they can see how good it is. So, I am all set up to take the photo that you see at the right here. I had already taken a few of the others, but this top photo is the most important because it’s the first one you see when you get here, and if it’s pretty, people will pin it on Pinterest and post it on Facebook and Twitter – all the stuff that food bloggers hope everyone does.

I have everything set up on the table where I take my photos, and over in the kitchen, I carefully plate up the bars, and top them with that little squiggle of whipped cream and a little extra lime zest. Perfect. I pick them up and start to walk over to the table and plop – one of the bars slides off the plate and lands upside down on the floor! I uttered a choice phrase that I wouldn’t want my grandma or Jesus hear me say, and the second one slides right off its plate and land upside down next to the first one. Sigh. I mean, really?

So, I cleaned up the mess, cut more squares [which actually look even better than the first ones did] and got the shots. And now about every 10 minutes, Riley goes over and thoroughly re-cleans each spot on the floor where they landed. I guess my cleaning isn’t as good as I thought it was.

I know that is a pretty exciting story about my mile-a-minute life, so I hope it’s not too much for you. Lets make something sweet, ok?

This recipe is super easy, because you make the whole thing in the food processor - just wipe it out between making the crust and filling.

Author: Donalyn Ketchum

Recipe type: Bar Cookies, Bars

Serves: 9 to 18 bars

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 80 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1 & ⅓ cups granulated sugar

1 cup flaked, sweetened coconut, packed

½ cup cold butter, cut in 6 or 8 pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 & ⅓ sugar

¾ cups buttermilk

½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest

1 tablespoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350º. Generously butter an 8 x 8 pan. This is the pan I use. I also line the pan with two long pieces of parchment paper to make getting the bars out of the pan easier - after it cools for a bit, you can just pick it up to remove it from the pan, which keeps the edges nice and neat.

Put the flour, first amount of sugar, coconut, butter, vanilla and salt into the bowl of the food processor.

Run the processor until the mixture is uniform - about 30 seconds to a minute.

Empty the resulting mixture into the prepared pan and pat out evenly in the pan, packing the mixture down well - I use the flat bottom of a measuring cup.

Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, wipe out the bowl of the processor and put all of the remaining ingredients into it.

Run for 30 seconds to a minute, then allow it to sit for 5 minutes or so.

Run another 30 seconds and then feel of the bottom of the bowl to see if any undissolved sugar remains. If it does - run another 30 seconds.

After 15 minutes, bring the crust out of the oven, and carefully pour the mixture from the food processor over it.

Return to the oven and bake for another 45 to 55 minutes- until a knife inserted near the center comes out just about clean.

Cool completely in the pan before removing. Cut into bars or squares. A little whipped cream on top is nice, or maybe a dusting of powdered sugar.

Refrigerate leftovers.

3.2.2310

These are really good sliced into narrow bars like thisOR – you cut them into larger squares and serve on a plate with maybe a little whipped cream. They are tart and fresh and will really brighten up your outlook on life.

30 thoughts on “Lime Buttermilk Bars”

I’m actually having a very nice Thursday. The sun is shining, there’s a hint of budding on the trees and the crocus have finally begun to show their faces. I just came in from some moring clean-up and am headed back outside as soon as I replenish:)

Your Lime Buttermilk Bars would be just perfect right about now. Heck, I wouldn’t even mind one of those that plopped on the floor if need be, lol…I love that they can be made in the food processor for a quick snack and clean-up. So saving this recipe and thanking your for sharing…Out I go!!!

These sound AMAZING, Donalyn! I’m a big fan of citrus desserts and I can’t wait to taste the buttermilk, too! They sound like a wonderful twist on lemon bars, which I also love. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

gorgeous and extremely tempting bars…we make these wonderful treats at least once during summer and it disappears right off….and we are sure this time following your wonderful recipe it is going to disappear even faster….lovely food clicks and a wonderful post as always…thanks so much for sharing 🙂

Hi Donalyn! I could in mind mind picture all the pictures scenes…sorry by laughing…I could not help…
These squares look fabulous…I love citrus dessert and I think that coconut on the crust makes all the difference…such a tropical touch.
Have a beautiful weekend 😀

I know what you mean about letting off expletives when photographing food. My most frustrating thing is having the background poster board fall over onto the food- smashing it down flat. Or, getting the natural light just right, then the sun goes down behind a cloud, ruining the shot! Oh well, I’ll just eat one of your delicious-looking bars to make myself feel better!

I had to giggle just a bit…as this sort of thing happens to me all the time. Mostly, it’s the reflective white board that falls onto my food. Ugh! Glad you had plenty more of these yummy bars to cut and garnish!

Oh, I hate when that happens — it’s happened to me more than I’d like to admit.:) But it’s great that you have more slices to shoot, because there’s nothing worsen than when the food is all gone. Haha. Great recipe Donalyn.

Great looking bars! How have I survived without them? I’ll have to make a triple batch to make up for lost time. I’ve had exactly the same disaster when trying to photograph food! Ugh. More and more these days I now plate everything right where I’m going to photograph it just to avoid that kind of trouble. Anyway, wonderful recipe — thanks.